Opportunities on homelessness

Sarasota city and county can make progress together

Published: Sunday, February 3, 2013 at 1:00 a.m.

Last Modified: Friday, February 1, 2013 at 11:39 p.m.

Homelessness is Subject A -- literally and figuratively -- on the agenda for Tuesday's meeting between the Sarasota city and county commissions.

Four items are on tap, and all are important. Yet none is more vital than the need for continuing discussions about the potential for collaboration and problem-solving.

City Manager Tom Barwin has recently met with a work group -- including private-sector and government leaders -- to discuss how Sarasota can tackle the personal and public problems associated with chronically homeless people congregating on streets, in parks and on business properties.

Among the early outcomes of the work-group sessions, according to city-county documents, is Barwin's plan to seek money from a local foundation in order to hire one full-time and two part-time caseworkers.

Those workers would help not only chronically homeless people but the police officers who regularly encounter them. This is an excellent idea: People who are homeless frequently require help navigating the social-service "system" or need guidance in order to accept services and treatment; police officers could use the assistance from social-services experts, so they can focus on policing and protecting the public.

A timely opportunity

Here is a timely opportunity for philanthropists to partner with local government to test the value of funding caseworkers, with the hope of improving the lives of individuals, giving police the tools they need to effectively deal with homeless people and benefiting city neighborhoods and business districts. We hope funding for this project comes to fruition. (In a similar example of private-sector assistance in public issues, the Gulf Coast Community Foundation recently funded, to its credit, caseworkers hired by the YMCA to aid homeless schoolchildren in Sarasota County.)

A positive response by the County Commission to the city of Sarasota's initiatives would be welcome. Homelessness, in its many forms, is a problem countywide. The quality of cities is a huge factor in the quality of the county; furthermore, city residents pay county taxes.

Sarasota County has, in fact, funded treatment and housing. But other opportunities might also come to light as a result of open discussions between city and county governments, extending to the private sector.

For instance, since many chronically homeless people are arrested and incarcerated would it make sense to seek private dollars to help local governments hire caseworkers who could be assigned to the county jail? In light of the costs of arrests, incarcerations and courts, efforts to keep homeless people out of jail and off the streets could be cost-effective.

Other questions

Other questions to examine:

• How could mental-health and substance-abuse services be made more accessible? How could recalcitrant people be enticed, or required, to obtain such care?

• Are facilities that offer treatment with the support of public funds adequately and efficiently providing services?

• Can service providers become more collaborative with public and private financial support, combined with training?

• How can previous community-based efforts to tackle homelessness be revived and used to shape the current debate?

• What additional facilities and services are necessary, and would be most effective, in the city of Sarasota and countywide?

One of the challenges facing the city and county commissioners is to ask and answer these questions in an order that results in a long-term strategy -- while also producing the demonstrable, short-term gains necessary to boost public and private confidence in the community's ability to make progress.

Performing that balancing act is easier said than done, and the community's failure to gain momentum is frustrating. But there will be no progress without persistence, collaboration and commitments to act.

<p>Homelessness is Subject A -- literally and figuratively -- on the agenda for Tuesday's meeting between the Sarasota city and county commissions.</p><p>Four items are on tap, and all are important. Yet none is more vital than the need for continuing discussions about the potential for collaboration and problem-solving.</p><p>City Manager Tom Barwin has recently met with a work group -- including private-sector and government leaders -- to discuss how Sarasota can tackle the personal and public problems associated with chronically homeless people congregating on streets, in parks and on business properties.</p><p>Among the early outcomes of the work-group sessions, according to city-county documents, is Barwin's plan to seek money from a local foundation in order to hire one full-time and two part-time caseworkers.</p><p>Those workers would help not only chronically homeless people but the police officers who regularly encounter them. This is an excellent idea: People who are homeless frequently require help navigating the social-service "system" or need guidance in order to accept services and treatment; police officers could use the assistance from social-services experts, so they can focus on policing and protecting the public.</p><p>A timely opportunity</p><p>Here is a timely opportunity for philanthropists to partner with local government to test the value of funding caseworkers, with the hope of improving the lives of individuals, giving police the tools they need to effectively deal with homeless people and benefiting city neighborhoods and business districts. We hope funding for this project comes to fruition. (In a similar example of private-sector assistance in public issues, the Gulf Coast Community Foundation recently funded, to its credit, caseworkers hired by the YMCA to aid homeless schoolchildren in Sarasota County.)</p><p>A positive response by the County Commission to the city of Sarasota's initiatives would be welcome. Homelessness, in its many forms, is a problem countywide. The quality of cities is a huge factor in the quality of the county; furthermore, city residents pay county taxes.</p><p>Sarasota County has, in fact, funded treatment and housing. But other opportunities might also come to light as a result of open discussions between city and county governments, extending to the private sector.</p><p>For instance, since many chronically homeless people are arrested and incarcerated would it make sense to seek private dollars to help local governments hire caseworkers who could be assigned to the county jail? In light of the costs of arrests, incarcerations and courts, efforts to keep homeless people out of jail and off the streets could be cost-effective.</p><p>Other questions</p><p>Other questions to examine:</p><p>• How could mental-health and substance-abuse services be made more accessible? How could recalcitrant people be enticed, or required, to obtain such care?</p><p>• Are facilities that offer treatment with the support of public funds adequately and efficiently providing services?</p><p>• Can service providers become more collaborative with public and private financial support, combined with training?</p><p>• How can previous community-based efforts to tackle homelessness be revived and used to shape the current debate?</p><p>• What additional facilities and services are necessary, and would be most effective, in the city of Sarasota and countywide?</p><p>One of the challenges facing the city and county commissioners is to ask and answer these questions in an order that results in a long-term strategy -- while also producing the demonstrable, short-term gains necessary to boost public and private confidence in the community's ability to make progress.</p><p>Performing that balancing act is easier said than done, and the community's failure to gain momentum is frustrating. But there will be no progress without persistence, collaboration and commitments to act.</p>